4 Mistakes Decorators Make When Creating a Focal Point

The focal point is one of the most important design elements in any room. It can be naturally occurring part of a room or one that’s created. But often a room can lack a focal point. So, it’s good to know things to avoid when creating a focal point in your home.

Why Do We Need to Create a Focal Point?

Every room needs a focal point, an interesting feature that draws the eye into the room and makes you want to enter. A room without a focal point seems aimless and as if it has no anchor. A room with a focal point has a natural stopping point or a place to arrange furniture around. This is what our fireplace does for our living room.

Types of Focal Points

A focal point could be one that exists in your home such as an architectural feature. But if your room is lacking character you could make a focal point with the following

• a painted feature wall
• a gallery wall
• a piece of art
• an added mantel
• a console in the hall
• a dining table
• your view
• a lovely door

What to Avoid When Creating a Focal Point

Having more than one focal point

This idea is contentious as many decorators advocate only one focal point per room. Personally, I think you can have more than one as long as the space is big enough to handle it. If you create focal points at opposite ends of the room where they will not compete with each other this is fine. Or if you place the focal points so only one can be seen at a time when the person enters or is seated, that’s fine too. Our hallway, above, has a main focal point of the gallery wall and a secondary one in the stripped front door. As you look down the hall the gallery wall is not visible to the eye and if you look from the front door its back cannot be seen.

When a room has two separate usage areas — say, for example, a kitchen and eat-in dining area — it can be tempting to create two focal points. However, that can confuse the viewer if not done well. Focal points that reflect the purpose of that part of the room are good to show function and draw the eye in.

If you think you need more than one focal point make one the dominant one and the other less dominant. Aim for focal points that cannot all be viewed at one time where you can. The problem arises when you stuff every wall with focal points and the eye has nowhere to rest. The room looks cluttered then and the focal points you’ve taken so much time to create can’t be appreciated.

Forgetting to Frame the Area

Even if your room has a built-in focal point, it’s your job to add extra details to ensure eyes always fall where they’re supposed to and are drawn to it. Add extra design elements around your chosen point to draw attention. The vase of lilies on the buffet frames the large oil painting. The small vignette on the right draws attention to the size of the painting.

Not Thinking about Lighting

Every focal point should have its own lighting source to help it stand out. If you have a lovely painting, focus a downlight on it. A dining table looks better with a huge pendant over it. A side table in an entry looks pretty at night when a lamp is lit. The small living room of our old cottage had the mantel as the focal point but your eye is also drawn to that end of the room by the lamp on the cabinet at the side. Even if your lighting is not near the focal point, nothing looks worse than seeing a room where the light fittings have been forgotten. It’s as if they become a negative focal point.

Painting a Feature Wall

Learn from my mistakes on this one when creating a focal point!

Feature or accent walls were HUGE in the early 2000’s. People went crazy adding ‘feature walls’ anywhere and everywhere. (Me included!) Little thought was given to the point of painting a wall and thus people put feature walls in every room, in every colour imaginable and often in the weirdest places.

The feature wall, whether it’s paint, timber or paper does best thought when it accents another FOCAL POINT OF THE ROOM. Being a feature on its own is just wrong because a wall is not a feature. A wall painted dark navy behind a bed IS a feature. A wall such as the one above that draws you into the dining area and enhances the gallery wall of the office is a great example of using a feature wall well. A random wall painted green is NOT a feature. A wall covered in floral wallpaper highlighting an old timber armoire IS a feature.